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Paper currency has some intrinsic value because there is a government that will accept it for debts owed (e.g. taxes, fines, ID cards, etc.). Not so for Bitcoi
by axiolite 2y ago
Paper currency has some intrinsic value because there is a government that will accept it for debts owed (e.g. taxes, fines, ID cards, etc.). Not so for Bitcoin, nowhere is guaranteed to accept it. NOTE: I'm not the author.
- elmerfud 2y agoThe government will only accept it as long as the government chooses to accept it. By acting as if that is an absolute that is immutable ignores a lot of history where governments have completely reissued currencies have invalidated currencies have refused to accept it for debts where governments have disappeared and no other government will honor your paper. There is a long history of that happening many times over. Which is why originally paper currency was a representation of the physical gold or silver that backed it and you could exchange it for such. So the reason our paper money has value is because we, collectively, including our government, has agreed that it has value. When the government stops backing it for any number of reasons, I guarantee you all of the people will back out of it as well and it's nothing more than wallpaper at that point. The same could happen to Bitcoin because bitcoins value is because we have something that is unique and we have all agreed that it has value. When we stop agreeing that this unique thing can have value then it's nothing more than digital wallpaper.
- npoc 2y agoFirst, what's intrinsic value? Secondly, have you considered that a thing's fundamental properties can make it better at functioning as money than other things? Which fundamental properties do you think are important?